Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live on Long Island, NY. New to lawn care. Dropped new sod last september, all great. Got a new sprinkler system 3 or 4 weeks ago and fertilized just after with some Scotts (no weed killer, just fertilizer). It's been about 3-4 weeks since I fertilized. Since I also seeded some areas with patch (I had moved a wall) I had the sprinklers on every day for 20 minutes.
Because we were away for a couple of weeks, I didn't get to my first mow until this weekend, and the sod was very long prob 6" or so... I was a bit aggressive with the mow (prob took it down to about 3") and it looked great, deep green all around. A day or two later, I've noticed that the lawn has a mottled appearance, much lighter green, almost gold in spots, deep green in others.
Two concerns are this: Did i shock the lawn by taking off too much at once? Did I over-fertilize and burn it out? How long would it take to burn out if I over fertilized it. I've dropped back the waterings to 4X a week, but perhaps I should go back to every day to dilute the fertilizer and wash it down? I didn't realize that the Scotts was so toxic.
The obvious answer is that you mowed too much at once. The lighter color is the grass stems you now see since the leaf blades were mowed off. Other possibilities include insect problems or some common lawn diseases. Any chance you can post a couple pictures?
Way to aggressive on the cutting. Never cut more than 1/3 of the height of the grass off at one time. This would mean taking it down in steps over two or three cuttings once a week for two to three weeks. The grass produces most of its food in the top two thirds of the grass. You can bring it back just water it everyday until soaking for about 5-6 days. Then let it dry 2 days with no water before cutting. Make sure the grass is as dry as possible for a clean cut before mowing. I would also make sure the blade on the mower is freshly sharpened. If you had over fertilized you would have noticed it within 3-5 days.
Almost every lawn can benefit from lime (even now)...
but it's really too late for fertilizing this spring.
Focus on weed eradication (round-up or tools) and if you're willing to water... seed.
Get a soil sample (or two) and see what you REALLY need.
Plan to do the real fertilizing after Labor Day.
Spring has been really late in the NE this year, there's still a fair amount of time for fertilizer in NY. Also, there should not be a weed problem this soon in new sod, but a lot of that depends on the quality of the sod.
thanks everybody. Just to confirm the verdicts here, I mowed too short (or let the grass get too long!) - point is, it does seem i took too much off at once. I watered everyday and it came back very fast, in fact, this weekend, it was already deep green and too long again! I brought to mower up a notch, took off about 1/3 - leaving it at just under 4". I'll hit it again next week.
Thanks so much for all the advice. I was really worried I burnt it out with the scotts. I'm done with that stuff! I'll try something non-toxic next time.
I'm done with that stuff! I'll try something non-toxic next time.
What are you basing this on? I don't see anything in your post where this could be the issue. And FWIW, I've used Scott's for years...never ever hurt my lawn with it.
On the scott's front. I based my fear of it on these two things:
Two spots where some fertilizer spilled from the bag while filling the spreader burned out in a day or two... which made me concerned about how heavily I fertilized the rest of the lawn (even though I did my best to follow directions). When the lawn became mottled, I checked on line and got a lot of info on amateurs (like me!) burning their lawns out by over-fertilizing with Scotts. Now, it's probably fine for those who know what they're doing - but now that I realize the damage you can do by doing it wrong, I'll go with something simpler and organic if I can find that solution.
So, let's say Scotts might be fine in the right hands. It makes me nervous with 2k in new sod.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.